South African Fishing

The 5th of May was competition day in Hermanus again.  46 Anglers took part in what turned out to be a very nice day for fishing in Hermanus.  I never got around  to getting bait the day before and knew it was going to be a problem with the tide only being low at about 10.45 the morning.

Being spring tide I thought it would be possible to get to the bait a little earlier, so at  about 9 o’clock we got going to get some worms in the Voêlklip area. 

On the way we contacted our friend Andre Lourens to hear whether they had had any luck so far, luck, they had just about cleaned up and were on their way home already having caught 10 galjoen between them, only keeping the four biggest galjoen of course.

The one fish Andre had caught earlier the morning was a whopping 49cm, a huge fish and we knew it would take a special fish to beat this one, the other fish were only just size but could be in the prizes with the sea having picked up somewhat.

We managed to get our bait sorted in no time and made a couple of casts around the Rowweklip area.  The tide was getting low very quickly now and was kicking up a lot of sand in the holes around Rowweklip.  It soon became evident that most of the holes were closed up, covered by sand.  The most worrying factor to me was the pull the water seemed to have in it, filling right up and then emptying out in the next couple of waves again, this is not good for any kind of fishing.

We decided to move to spots under the cliffs where the water was much deeper, Blaas Gat was where we made our next cast with huge swells running in from the South West making it impossible to fish, every cast was washed under the rocks and broken off, not my idea of a nice days fishing.  My pal Yster persisted a while longer longer losing tackle, so I decided to move 50 meters or so to the right where there was more of a protected bay that would not take the full brunt of the waves running in.

The two youngsters had been fishing the bay for about a half a hour while I was losing tackle on every cast, with no luck.  My first two casts resulted in lost tackle again when I saw Yster packing up, my thinking was to make one more cast while I waited for him to catch up and then move on to who knows where in this weather.

I was just about to pull up when I felt the familiar tap tap of a galjoen on the end of my line and then, vas, fish on, and it felt like a decent fish to.  The fish was giving me quite a hard time diving towards the rock and kelp beds when I saw another huge wave approaching, I knew this galjoen had to be lifted out right away or be lost, being my very light graphite rod and a lift out of the water of about 6 or 7 meters it was all or nothing.  Luckily I had hooked the galjoen good and solid with the no 1 Mustad hook in the top jaw and managed to lift it onto the ledge next to me just as the wave hit the rocks, a very nice specimen of about 1.5 kg.

Needless to say we decided to stay a while longer knowing these fish usually swim in groups of three or four and some times tend to move in larger shoals.  The girls joined us on the rocks making for very interesting fishing, lines everywhere getting stuck and breaking off, total chaos.  Six of us casting into the same area the fish had been caught in, oh man. I did feel a few more fish but did not manage to hook up again.

A little later we packed up and moved off to the Boiling pot, Yster had heard they were catching many good sized Bronze Bream the week before so we had to give it a shot with nothing else happening on the galjoen front, and 4 hours to go before lines up.  He managed to land one Bronze Bream and lose lots and lots of tackle before the day came to an end at 4 o’clock.

I got a message to pick up a galjoen my friend Brian McFarlane had caught at Voêlklip earlier that morning.  He had a golf game on and thought he might be in the prizes with his fish.  We met a couple of the guys at the weigh in for a some cold beers and lots of laughs whilst waiting for the rest of the guys to come in.

We had a huge fire going for all the hungry fishermen, being sure they would like a nice boerewors roll after a long days hard fishing.  Most the guys had a reasonable days fishing considering the weather they had to endure. A total of 11 galjoen and one cob of 7.5 kg were weighed in, unfortunately Gerhard van Wyk who caught the cob was not in time to weigh his fish and be in line for what would have been first prize.

First prize went to Andre Lourens, a galjoen of 2.5 kg, second prize Denis Helfrich, galjoen 1.44 kg and the heaviest bag went to Hein Engelbrecht, 2 galjoen weighing 2.66 kg.

The club is planning to have a carp fishing family day on one of the farms in Bot river within the next couple of weeks, it will be new to most of our members but should be lots of fun.  We are planning to tag a fish and put a nice cash prize up for who ever manages to catch it again.

TUFFED STUMPNOSE ON THE BRAAI
 

                             800 g stumpnose gutted and scaled
 

                        Stuffing:   ½ red pepper, cut into thin strips
                        ½ green pepper, cut into thin strips
                        1 spring onion, thinly sliced
                        zest and juice of 1 lemon
                        1 clove garlic finely crushed
                        1 round feta cheese, crumbled
                        Salt and pepper
                        30 ml olive oil
 

·        Rinse the cleaned fish under cold running water and pat dry
·        Mix together peppers, onion, lemon zest and juice, garlic and feta cheese
·        Season with salt and pepper
·        Scoop the stuffing into the open cavity of the fish
·        Brush the skin with olive oil
·        Place the stuffed fish on the grill over hot coals and braai for 10 – 12 mins, turning once
·        Remove from grill and serve with boiled baby potatoes and a crisp green salad

FISH FLAN
 

Flop proof!!
 

                             ½ pkt savoury biscuits
                             ¼ cup melted butter
 

·        Crumble biscuits and pour butter oven
·        Leave to soak in
·        Place in 30cm flan dish
·        Bake 190º for 30 mins
 

250 g cooked fish – salmon, snoek or kingklip
2 medium onions, chopped and sauteed in 1 T butter
2 large eggs
1 T flour
¼ t sugar
2 T lemon juice
Dash Tabasco
Salt to taste
2 c grated cheese
 

·        Mix altogether EXCEPT 1 cup cheese
·        Dish mixture into prepared flan
·        Sprinkle cheese on top
·        Bake 30 min at 190º
·        Serve with tomato salad

HERB BUTTER
 

                            
250 g soft butter
3 T chopped fresh herbs
2 cloves crushed garlic
Squeeze of lemon juice
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
 

·        Whizz ingredients together in a food processor until blended.
·        Turn out onto a sheet of greaseproof paper
·        Wrap up and freeze until hard
·        Roll into a sausage shape
·        Freeze until hard
 

Variation:
 

          Anchovy butter:  Omit herbs and blend in 8 – 10 anchovies instead

TIPS FOR BRAAIING FISH
 

·        A hinged grid is ideal for braaiing fish, especially when the fish requires turning
·        Oil both the grid and the fish to prevent sticking
·        Always try to use fresh fish as the texture and flavour  will be better
·        If using frozen fish, make sure it is completely defrosted before braaiing
·        Fish should be braaied over a medium heat
·        To check your fire, hold your hand over the fire, about 20 cm above the coals and count the seconds before you  take your hand away.  Medium heat – 4 to 6 secs and hot 3 – 4 secs
·        Fish is ready as soon as the flesh turns opaque, about 8 minutes for fillets and longer for whole fish
·        Season your fish with salt and pepper, olive oil, lemon juice and fresh herbs
·        If the fish is whole, stuff the herbs into the body cavity
·        Serve immediately after removing from the braai

BEER BATTERED FISH
 

                             400 g fresh firm fish (such as hake or kingklip)
                            
                             Batter:  1 egg
                             75 ml self-raising flour
                             150 ml beer
                             15 ml lemon juice
                             Salt and black pepper
                             5 ml parsley
                             500 ml oil for frying
 

·        Cut the fish fillets into small strips and pat dry with paper towels
·        Make the batter by whisking together self-raising flour, beer and lemon juice
·        Favour the batter with salt, pepper and parsley
·        Dunk the strips in the batter until completely covered
·        Heat the oil over medium heat
·        Remove the fish strips from the batter and deep fry for about 2 - 4 minutes
·        Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and place on paper towel to dry
·        Serve with mayonnaise

PAELLA
 

                             1 T butter
                             2 T oil
                             1 kg chicken pieces, cut into chunks
                             1 t salt
                             1 t chicken stock powder
                             ¼ t pepper
                             1 packet Spanish Rice or 2 cups plain rice
                             2 chopped onions
                             1 x 400g tin tomatoes, chopped
                             1 green & 1 red pepper chopped
                             2 t tomato paste
                             ½ t sugar              
                             ¼ t cayenne pepper
½ t turmeric
                             1 cup white wine
                             2 cups chicken stock
                             3 chorizo sausages, chopped
                             1.5 kg fish eg. any fish cubed, prawns, crayfish, mussels
                             ½ cup black olives
                             dash olive oil
                             2 - 3 cloves chopped garlic
                             ½ cup chopped parsley
 

·        Heat the oil and butter in a heavy large pan
·        Season the chicken pieces with salt, pepper and stock and brown
·        Remove chicken with slotted spoon
·        Stir-fry the sausage until golden
·        Keep on one side
·        Add the raw rice to the pot and stir-fry until golden
·        Add peppers, garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, cayenne pepper, turmeric and stir-fry for a few minutes
·        Add stock and wine, and then the chicken and sausage pieces
·        Simmer slowly for 15 minutes
·        Add the seafood’s and cook slowly till done
·        Lastly add olives if desired
·        Sprinkle with parsley and serve with a green salad

COOKING GUIDE FOR FISH
Cape Salmon (Geelbek) – Most cooking methods